A FORMER Macclesfield Town footballer, whose career was cut short following a gangland-style shooting, has been named by police in connection with several burglaries involving central heating boilers.

Lancashire Police want to trace Chris Byrne, 30, a midfielder who moved to Sunderland and Stockport County before rejoining the Silkmen.

He is a suspect for two burglaries at plumbers merchants in Burnley and Chorley last November. One other man has already been charged.

The career of Mr Byrne, from Hulme in Manchester, was brought to an end at the age of just 27 after he was ambushed by a gang of masked men in an alleyway and was shot in the leg in November, 2002.

The balaclava-clad gunmen were seen in the St George's Avenue area of Hulme from where shots were heard, and Mr Byrne was later taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

He never featured again for Macclesfield Town and his contract was terminated by mutual consent about five months later.

Detective Inspector for Lancashire Police, Andy Murphy, said: "We are keen to trace Mr Byrne as soon as possible as we believe he has been involved in a number of high value thefts.

"It is not just the cost of the stolen property that impacts on the owners of the plumbers merchants, but they also face the costs in excess of £1m to repair their premises and damage to security systems."

This is not Mr Byrne's first brush with the law. He was arrested in 2001 following a brawl in a Manchester nightclub, and in 1999 when he was convicted of a burglary at a chemist's in Urmston.

Nobody at the club was available for comment yesterday (Tuesday).